Category: Thoughts

It’s a joy to look out of the window and see the lightest of rain fall! Mid May was the last time it fell here, and the gardens are parched. We had a heavyish fall overnight, so there is no watering can duty today. Today should have been the last cricket match of the season for our grandson, but it’s rained off! It’s a shame as they have won the County Championship, and it would have been good for them to play that last game – especially when you are only 10.

As you can imagine, the Temperature Blanket has been interesting! I’m currently playing catchup as I’ve been unexpectedly away (see below). The hot colours have made more than an occasional appearance, as you can see below.

I’m looking forward to seeing them all together – I’ll update you with a few pictures when it’s up to date.

Yes, we’ve been away for a few days. It was a spur of a moment decision to go and stay with family. The weather was perfect for the trip, and we even managed a visit or two to the sea.

We walked along the cliffs, and also visited the surrounding towns. We discovered an amazing bus service and also made a couple of trips by train! Such excitement…! We have promised ourselves another trip soon.

Are you revelling in temperatures in the late 20 to early 30s degrees C? (That’s 85+ to those of you that still use Fahrenheit, by the way.) I’ll be honest. It’s too hot for me and I’m suffering. A word of warning .. there is crochet below but also some medical stuff, so go away now or scroll down if you don’t want to read ..

For many years I’ve been treated fo Hypothyroidism. One of the many symptoms is inability to control body temperature. This doesn’t happen to everyone but to a ‘select’ few it’s very often far too cold or far too hot.

Long before I was finally diagnosed I was taking extreme precautions. For instance, a summer holiday in hot August would ensure that the first things to pack would be a pair of good quality gloves! There is nothing worse than hands too cold to move on a hot summer day! Of course, I was young then, and I had never experienced (or even heard of) Hot Flashes! These became a constant companion after an early hysterectomy, but soon became a thing of the past.

About five years ago they returned, at least I thought they had. However, temperatures swinging high are just the other side of the hypothyroid coin. So on days when most people are experiencing 31 deg C I’m flailing around shivering in -2C or melting in 45degC. It isn’t funny 😦

The irony is that my actual body temperature rarely goes above 35C!

Anyway. On to crochet.

It’s hard to crochet in gloves! But it’s equally hard to crochet with hands that are too hot, and as for working on a blanket ….

Which is frustrating as that’s what I should be doing.

This is square number 7 and I have 5 more to complete. There’s a deadline, of course, but hot hands, or cold hands come to that, have a way of making their own crochet tension. I can’t afford to spoil what’s already complete, so this project is on hold. HELP!

Fortunately I can work on random small squares. They aren’t precious so are a life saver. More about them next time. Enjoy your July wherever you are.

Well, it’s moved along a little, but I won’t be wearing it this weekend!

I began it during the ‘flu, and didn’t pick it up again until Sunday evening. Wow! Now that I’m further on I can tell you that I love this yarn!

Northern Lights by James C Brett has a small proportion of viscose mixed with the main fibre . Viscose is a plant based fibre and always gives a good handle. It can also have a warm cosy feel.

I’m using a size 5 hook and following the rules for a normal c2c at each edge but substituting 1tr, 1ch, 1tr, into each 3 chain of the previous row. Hopefully the following quick image will help to illustrate.

If you are looking for a new yarn to try I suggest you give this one a go. It comes with a free knitting pattern for a shawl, so if you don’t crochet, or want to try a new skill, you know that it will work. It’s currently on offer in various places, but I have to admit that the cheapest I could find is here, at the moment.

I went shopping last Saturday and was fine, had a lovely walk on Sunday, still fine. Felt a bit ‘off’ on Monday but nothing specific, as it were. Then Tuesday happened, and with it all the symptoms of a sinus infection.

These have been part of my life since I was a child. They aren’t fun and can go on for months if not treated kindly. In the ‘old days’ antibiotics would have knocked it on its head quite quickly, but these days they are few and far between. Hot honey and lemon and plain boiled water has been my liquid intake for the past few days, and not much food. I won’t fade away, don’t worry about that!

Yesterday things changed, though. It isn’t just a sinus infection. I won’t go into the rest of the symptoms but they have changed, and to make matters worse the rest of the house is suffering too, and it just a few short days!

Crochet has definitely taken a back seat. It’s been a bit of a chore, which is a shame because I was going to show you a new project.

Have you seen Northern Lights by James Brett? It’s one of the oh so popular ‘cake’ yarns. This one has a good proportion of viscose in it I gather, and that is well known for its silky softness. It comes with a pattern for a knitted shawl. I’ve decided to crochet one, but it hasn’t got very far …

I’ve corrupted the C2C pattern to give it more texture. I’ll tell you more when I feel better. The reason I’m showing you now is that DERAMORES has a 10% discount on the yarn -others too. This one is definitely worth a try. I see that some of the colourways are out of stock, I’m not surprised, but they are all gorgeous – I found it very difficult to choose…..

…. my phone was full and I couldn’t move any of the photos to the computer! I managed a few photos on Instagram, but none of the other apps would work!

So frustrating, but let’s face it, hardly a real calamity! It’s suprising how much I rely on it, though, as most of my blog posts start their life on the phone when I upload the photographs to the WordPress App. It’s a really good app, and works perfectly either on it’s own or in conjunction with the computer – which is the way I prefer to blog here.

So, February ended by making it’s mark. We had snow!

This is very unusual. In the 30+ years we have lived here we have had snow less than a handful of times. I don’t enjoy it. The hatches are battened down and apart from continuing to feed the birds I didn’t go outside. True, I didn’t need too. The storecupboard was already well stocked, and I have enough yarn to sink a battleship! I must have been prepared for a bad end to winter.

On some days the sky was blue, as can be seen by this view from my ‘studio’ (aka kitchen), but there were dull, grey, snowladen skies too.

The eucalyptus, which I grow for it’s dyeing properties, didn’t enjoy the cool weather, but it’s a strong plant and won’t fare any the worse in the long run.

Other creatures ventured out. We were visited by a couple of foxes at least. I took this photo on the first morning, it wasn’t very thick then, and it was interesting to view their tracks and see their pathways. Their footmarks were very distinctive, we could see that there was more than one.

Yes, I crocheted! I think I’ll post a couple of update posts about this as there is at least one project that hasn’t been shared so far. Watch out for something else later today, and if you too had snow I hope it clears for you really quickly too. Spring is here! We just need it to make it’s appearance felt. (Edited at 16.00 as the first post is now up, you can find it here.)

My first blanket of the Stashbuster series is almost finished. I just have a little more tidying up to do and that will be that. I’m going to call it the Betsy Blanket because it reminds me of someone! Here are a few glimpses, but another post will come soon with further details.

I’m so glad I kept records! I wanted to choose a linking colour to join the four seasonal elements that have been finished with different colours – Parchment, Stone, Camel and Gold. I have no idea yet how the final blanket will be finished ( as far as the final edging is concerned) because once this current stage is over it will go into hibernation until next year, but the linking is essential at this stage.

Looking back through the list of days and temperatures I found that there were two that occurred in every month! Just two!!!

10 deg C represented by Lobelia and

11 deg C represented by Empire.

Guess which one I chose?

Empire, I have more in my stash!

So far I have edged and joined three strips. Tomorrow I’ll finish adding the last – and then it will be carefully popped into a paper bag until the festivities and more are over.

I have more to crochet, though, so I won’t abandon the blog for a while yet!